CHAMBERSBURG -- Chambersburg fruit grower Dwight Mickey has been named 2012 Grower of the Year.

"It's a nice award," Mickey said. "It inspires you to keep moving forward. It's what I call a lifetime achievement award. It's still sinking in with me."

Mickey, 53, and his family operate a small business by industry standards -- the Shatzer Fruit Market and orchard, just west of Chambersburg. But since Mickey first became a teen-ager, the market has won more than 3,500 ribbons for apples and pears at the Pennsylvania Farm Show, including 40 blue ribbons this year.

The State Horticultural Association of Pennsylvania however recognized Mickey primarily for his dedication to the association's apple booth at the Farm Show. Mickey, coordinator of cider sales, has co-chaired the booth 27 years. The booth, which sells apple dumplings and cider slushies, is one of the few remaining concessions at the Farm Show manned solely by volunteers. The apple stand raised a record $48,000 for fruit research this year.
"I've donated well in excess of 3,000 hours away from the business to support the fruit grower's association," Mickey said.

The association previously honored his father and long-time apple booth volunteer, Jack Mickey, as 2003 Grower of the Year. Fewer than a half dozen countians have been so-honored since the award was established in 1967. Jack Mickey said that the association's recognition of his son was overdue.
Dwight Mickey said of his father, "He's very involved.

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I don't make a decision without consulting him."

Dwight started picking apples when he was four years old.

"They rigged up a special picking strap for me, and I picked off the bottoms of the trees," Dwight said. "It's in your blood. I just like working for myself. I enjoy working outdoors. It's isn't about the money. There may be easier ways to make a living, but there's no better quality of life."

The state association also recognized the orchard's cooperation with researchers. Since 1985 scientists have studied the longevity of peach trees, drip irrigation and pesticide use.

"I like the challenge, and I like to be out there on the edge and have access to some of the latest research," Dwight said.

He started drip irrigation after one study, and after another, he tied pheromone tags on trees to disrupt insect mating and to reduce his use of pesticides.

Dwight said he likes working with customers and growing "good quality fruit."

To grow a good apple, you need a good tree, fertile soil and ample moisture, he said. The rest is out of his hands.

"You've got to have good weather," Dwight said. "Weather is 90 percent of growing a good apple. All I can do is guide it along."

Several hail storms hammered the local grower out of the 2012 Farm Show, its first no show first since 1976.

This season Dwight harvested hail-damaged apples along with those he polished up for blue ribbons. He took a break Monday from cold storage where he was loading apples onto a truck bound for the juice plant.

"There is no retirement for a good fruit grower," Dwight said. "My wife tells me you work till you die, and you call that retirement. She tells me nobody works that hard at a job, so what I do must be a hobby."

The varieties, market and technology makes this an exciting time to be a fruit grower, he said.

"I'm just starting to hit my prime," Dwight said.

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Jim Hook can be reached at 717-262-4759 and jhook@publicopinionnews.com.